The New Kids on the Block’s Saturday night album release party at the Orpheum felt like a combination of a sleepover party, an episode of “Inside the Actors Studio,” and a male review. It started with a video montage of special New Kids moments timed to one of the group’s new songs, “The Whisper.” Once the packed house was screaming wildly, the guys came out and performed new songs and classics (including “Hangin’ Tough”). They took a break in between the music to sit in director’s chairs and talk about their long history and their big comeback in 2008. They told fans that it was the song “Click Click Click” from the comeback album “The Block” that brought them back together after an almost 15-year hiatus. They also introduced the audience to Aimee Nadeau, who grew up as a New Kids fan, wound up going into the music business, and now helps the group pick tracks, including the first single from their new album, “The Remix (I Like The).” When they asked Nadeau to stand up in her front-and-center seat so that they could thank her in front of the audience, she cried. (It was quite sweet.) The guys also chatted about their time touring with the Backstreet Boys as NKOTBSB. The boy bands played Fenway Park together in 2011. “See that, we made you like the Backstreet Boys,” Joey McIntyre
joked. “I didn’t like them either and now I love them.” (McIntyre also told fans that he kept checking his cellphone at the beginning of the show because he still hadn’t memorized all of the new lyrics.) Our favorite part of the night was when the guys pulled fans up on stage for some almost-dirty dancing. Donnie Wahlberg
wound up grabbing Live Nation box office manager Brianne Hill, whose collection of venue keys jingled against her waist as she moved. We also loved when the guys got emotional toward the end of the night. After a group of dedicated fans came on stage to present the group with framed copies of a full-page ad that they took out in Billboard to congratulate them on the album, everyone got weepy. The fans ran a fund-raising campaign to pay for the expensive ad space. Wahlberg thanked everyone and told the audience that he’s often asked what advice he has for younger boy bands. “I have always said I have no advice for them. Making it in any level of the music business is no joke,” he said, adding, “I think tonight I just thought of some advice. Love your [expletive] fans. Respect your fans. Give back to your fans what they give to you.”